Last night, the daunting realization occurred to me that I’m getting older when I saw the Rebecca Black music video that everyone is talking about. One thing that tipped me off was that I was around 33 million YouTube views too late, but there were some other factors that weighed in as well.
Mainly it was the fact that my mind didn’t immediately turn toward brutal thoughts toward an obviously horribly written song (if you watch, you’ll get a laugh). Yes, I did laugh in amazement at the lines about days of the week and riding in a car.
But I also found myself thinking about my own daughter, and other 13 year olds I know who might desire to take a chance one day. And what if they wanted to take a chance on something for the Kingdom of God? What if they desire to lead the way in life "outside the shire"?
My mind actually ran through these thoughts as the video was playing. But when it was over I clicked on a related video where she was being interviewed about the song - how everyone hates it, and it’s been suggested that she should literally cut herself and die. There were other pretty rough comments all along the negative spectrum.
I hated to see this 13 year old, who seemed very unpretentious by the way, take on these comments. If I were her, it would be difficult to take another risk. So again, my mind turned toward things that are a bit more significant than the "Friday" song.
Such as:
I don’t know. I started thinking of my daughter, and I really do want her to grow up believing that taking risks for the sake of Gospel is a good thing. Over time, she’ll realize that people are brutal, but maybe she can also be confident that the brutality won’t come from her spiritual family.
Rebecca Black might not be part of God’s family. Maybe her song is bad. But neither she nor her song is the point. It just got me thinking a little about the way that we are so prone to treat failure. My hope is that we wouldn’t treat someone’s failure for attempting something big for Christ in the same manner. Maybe we would. Who knows? Maybe I’m just getting older.
- It’s commonplace these days to verbally and textually beat up on failed attempts.
- Why would anyone then take a chance and put themselves in the line of fire when it comes trying something big for the Lord – knowing that even brothers and sisters in Christ have a harsh way of dealing with failed attempts?
- Maybe it’s okay to recognize when these attempts aren’t successful, but perhaps we don’t have to broadcast all of our thoughts. Maybe we can do better than that.
I don’t know. I started thinking of my daughter, and I really do want her to grow up believing that taking risks for the sake of Gospel is a good thing. Over time, she’ll realize that people are brutal, but maybe she can also be confident that the brutality won’t come from her spiritual family.
Rebecca Black might not be part of God’s family. Maybe her song is bad. But neither she nor her song is the point. It just got me thinking a little about the way that we are so prone to treat failure. My hope is that we wouldn’t treat someone’s failure for attempting something big for Christ in the same manner. Maybe we would. Who knows? Maybe I’m just getting older.
